Border for mattress inner spring units



Dec. 22, 1936. E. BRONSTIEN BORDER FOR MATTRESS INNER SPRING UNITS Filed March 1, 1933 gwuento'z 'FdWard LBronaiien- Patented Dec. 22, 1936 UNITED PATENT OFFHQE BORDER FOR MATTRESS INNER SPRING UNITS 1 Claim.

The present invention relates to a border for a mattress inner spring unit.

In the making of inner spring mattress units, wherein a plurality of rows of coiled springs are secured together by fastening means of various types, well known to the art, there is a tendency for the side walls of the mattress covering to press into the spaces between the outer, or border, springs of the unit after the mattress has been in use for some time, which detracts from the appearance and utility of the mattress.

An object of the present invention is to make a flat sided spring border for mattress units.

In order to attain this object, there is provided in accordance with one feature of the invention, a border row of flat sided springs along the side of a mattress inner spring unit to present the flat sides of said springs exteriorly of said unit, and in close lateral proximity to each other to support a mattress wall.

These and other features of the invention will be more fully set forth in the following dGSCI'iP-s tion and the accompanying drawing, wherein:

The figure shows a view in perspective of a corner portion of a mattress inner spring unit having a border of flat sided springs in accordance with the present invention.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the body of the inner spring unit comprises a plurality of coil springs I positioned in rows and secured together by helicals 2 in a well known manner. The specific type of coil spring used, however, as well as the method employed in securing the springs together, is not essential to the present invention.

Along each side of the spring unit is placed a row of flat sided springs 3, these springs being placed in comparatively close lateral proximity to each other, with preferably only sufiicient space between adjacent border springs to avoid their touching each other while in use.

These flat sided border springs are secured to the sides of the springs I by means of helicals 4 at the tops and bottoms of said springs, and additional helicals 5 encircle the part of the upper and lower convolutions of the outer flat sides of the springs 3 to further anchor said springs in position and to provide a continuous support for the mattress covering, not shown, which is applied to the inner spring unit after completion in a well known manner.

By thus surrounding a mattress inner spring unit with a border of springs having flat exterior sides, a substantially continuous flat sup port is provided for the mattress wall, which simplifies construction and assures an improved support for the mattress wall.

I am aware that it is old in the type of spring unit of the character described in this application to have a flattened portion upon the outer coil spring to support the side walls of a mattress against sagging. It is to be noted that the type of unit described in this case is one wherein the unit is composed of a plurality of circular coil springs connected in rows by a flexible joint, such as a helical spring encircling the adjacent edges of the end coils, these end coils being materially larger than the coil portion connecting the top and bottom coils.

I am also aware that other types of coil springs are constructed with flat outer edges which prevent the sagging of the side wall. The type of unit described above is a more recent development in mattress unit construction, and, by reason of the fact that the rows of helical springs have comparatively large end circular coils flexibly connected as by the referred to helical springs, a difficult problem has needed to be solved in securing the most efiicient type of border coil that will answer the purpose of stiffening the outer edge of the unit with respect to the flattened coils, and holding those coils in alinement when the outer edge of the mattress is depressed. In other efforts that have been made to achieve this result utilization has simply been made of the standard outer coil springs of the unit, the end coils of which springs are relatively large as compared with the connecting coils, and in such attempt to solve the problem the connecting smaller coils of the springs have been simply flattened toward the outer edge of the top and bottom coils. The support for the outer coils to the next row of coils produced by the connecting, flexible joint in the attempts referred to, being some distance inside and removed from the flattened outer portions of the coils, brings about the action, when the outer coils are depressed in use, of swinging the flattened portions inwardly and preventing these flattened portions properly staying in contact with the side wall of the mattress.

It has been my endeavor, through my experimentations, to produce an outer marginal coil section that will be so stiffened and the top and bottom coils so synchronized with the inter- 5o mediate flattened coils as to hold the flattened coils substantially in alinement when the outer edge of the mattress is depressed, to achieve the full results sought for. In my marginal unit the top and bottom coils of the marginal row are 55 relatively long, narrow coils, of the same length and width as the connecting coil portion that forms a support for the side wall of the mattress, and, in my construction, the connection between the top coils of this marginal portion and the inner coils of the unit is in alinement with the inner edge of the flattened spring portion that connects these top and bottom loops.

Furthermore, as shown in the drawing, I am enabled by the above described construction to bring the elongated top and bottom coils of the outer springs into comparatively close end contact, and permit the helical spring that connects the marginal spring with the next spring to be wound around the full length of the entire inner side of the top and. bottom coils, with a very short section of helical spring standing between the elongated top and bottom coils of the outer spring, stiffening the inner side of the top and bottom coils of the outer marginal springs. I thus secure a rigidity of support for the center coils of the marginal coil springs and secure inside support for these marginal springs that by being in alinement with the inner side of the flattened coil spring portion instead of at a point some distance inside of and removed from the flattened side of the coil spring portion,

operates against the sagging in of the coil springs where a weight, such as that of a person, is placed on the edge of the construction.

I claim:

In combination with an inner spring mattress unit composed of substantially circular coil springs connected together in adjacent rows and constituting the body portion of the inner spring unit, a surrounding marginal spring portion consisting of a row of relatively narrow, elongated coil springs, comprising top, bottom, and intermediate inter-connecting coils, with the inner sides of the coils, both the top, bottom, and intermediate coils standing in substantial alinement; and with the inner sides of said coils all standing parallel with the outer sides of the coils and with the inner, relatively long sides of said marginal coils positioned in substantially contacting engagement with adjacent inner coils, helical springs encircling the inner long sides of the marginal coils of the top and bottom coils, the inner long sides of the top and bottom marginal coils and the encircling helical spring being in vertical alinement with the inner sides of the intermediate long inner sides of the connecting marginal coils.

EDWARD L. BRONS'I'IEN. 

